Pages

Friday, July 6, 2012

Quick and dirty moneybelt

Yesterday I put tigerboy on a plane (with his Palin bag) to take him to the opposite side of the world. (It was actually a planned trip, not a banishment.) The day before that there was much searching for one of the four moneybelts that we have but rarely use. I found one with several safety pins holding it together and a strap from another one .......... fabulous.
"Do you want me to quickly make you one?"
"Do you think you can? Will it have a zip?" (At this point I'm thinking "Oh no, don't tell me this is going to turn into a Palin bag saga.)
"I'll give it a bash." (I disappeared quicker than a glass of wine after a day of work at that point - I was not sticking around for his endless list of improvements.)

I went through a bag of clothes my sister had given me years ago and pulled out a white knit top, pulled out the bag of white zippers my Mum had reclaimed from various garments and other sewn things ever since Jesus was a baby (seriously, there are some with my baby sister's name written on them along with her primary school - she's nearly 40!) and I winged it, totally, completely, winged it, zero forethought, zero measuring.

Ok, there was some forethought - I decided to use a cotton knit so that it was soft and not as sweaty as some moneybelts (like some we've owned). There was a long skinny strip of knit left from my hacking, at the last minute I decided to make it the beginning of the strap.

So, here it is. NB: This is a very quick and dirty project - one look at the stitching (not to mention that antique zipper pull) is enough to support that claim - but really, I'm not going to agonise over making a money belt look good.

I cut the back out of the shirt to give me a big rectangle

folded the rectangle in half, attached each end to the zipper (the hem of the shirt is actually attached to the top of the zipper)

opened the zip a bit, turned it inside out

inserted the straps inside

sewed up the sides

turned it right side out again

then I sewed up the front of the money belt from the bottom to just under the zip so that it has two compartment - one that holds notes and one that's smaller (credit cards, notes folded in half etc.)

I used a piece of elastic between the two knit strips

for fastening I used those flat hooks you get in pants - I wanted something nice and flat (I also hate that most money belts leave you with a mile of extra strap hanging around)

I put two bars in for the hook because I don't trust the cheap shoddy elastic not to stretch out - this was a quick and dirty prototype remember?

Tigerboy's take on it? "Oh, it's so comfy! I don't even know that I'm wearing it. Oh, honey, that's not good - I wouldn't realise if it fell off!"
"You can't have everything baby."

Who am I?

Trying valiantly to get patterns to fit me, building a reasonable stash (that is unlikely to be used in this lifetime), inflicting clothes I wouldn't wear at home on unsuspecting international communities and generally exasperating tigerboy every chance I get.